LAS VEGAS – Dennis Bermudez may not have gotten off to a great start, but his strong finish was enough to get him a narrow split-decision victory (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) over Max Holloway on Saturday night.

The featherweight bout was part of today’s UFC 160 event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It aired on FX following additional prelims on Facebook and prior to a main card on pay-per-view.

Holloway controlled the action early with his rangy striking attack, and appeared to have Bermudez hurt when his spinning back kick found a home first on Bermudez’s head, then his body, and then his head again.

But Bermudez kept the pressure on in the second and third rounds, eventually putting Holloway on his back and bloodying him up with strikes from the top, leaving the Hawaiian fighter with a large lump on his forehead as he waited hopefully for the decision. In the end, two of the three judges saw it for Bermudez, despite Holloway’s early success.

“I feel sometimes I get lucky,” Bermudez said. “I don’t know why I have to take a punch sometimes to come alive in a fight. I’ve trained hard and my striking coach wants me to drop the guys I’m working with and not just let them up. I think that attitude came through in this fight.”

“At the end of the day, the fight was for Dennis Bermudez,” Holloway said. “I’ve got no excuses. I’m going to come back stronger than ever. I’m not going to cry about it. It is what it is.”

Bermudez (11-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has now won four straight in the UFC. Holloway (7-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) drops his first since a 2012 loss to Dustin Poirer, snapping a three-fight winning streak in the octagon.

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